Archive for November, 2017

Spending more on higher education and research at the European Union level to deepen cooperation and mobility between Europe’s universities is increasingly seen as a priority to tackle the challenge of digitalisation and the rise of xenophobia and extremism, European leaders and officials have signalled.

Researchers examining programmes in four countries have identified critical factors that are important to achieving high quality in masters education in economics and molecular biology – and they say the results are relevant for other academic disciplines.

Contingent faculty, who are typically part-time teachers on short-term contracts, today teach more than two-thirds of university courses nationwide, federal data show. And a substantial number of them are living on the edge of poverty, according to a new report.

In an era when economic and trade nationalism is disrupting the multilateral world order, universities have a role to play in driving multinational cross-border collaborations and keeping pace with disruptive technologies, the Asia-Pacific University Leaders’ Forum, held in Vietnam, was told.

The European Commission has published a new Communication on “Strengthening European Identity through Education and Culture” which outlines its vision of a European Education Area for 2025.

The goal is to create a “Europe in which learning, studying and doing research would not be hampered by borders”. While the EU cannot legislate on educational matters, the ambitions are high. Among other things, there is a proposal to remove obstacles to recognition also for primary and secondary level education, expand mobility beyond higher education, and create world-class networks of European universities.

EUA has published a summary report on the lessons learnt by the thematic peer groups in learning and teaching to share the overall outcomes with its membership. In the first half of 2017 four groups worked as part of the L&T Initiative and covered the following topics:

• building a link between research and teaching missions of the university;
• empowering students for their future professional life and civic engagement;
• addressing larger and more diverse student bodies ensuring student success;
• fostering engagement in developing L&T.

The looming international enrolment crisis at American universities and colleges illustrated by the Open Doors survey could make way for rethinking what internationalisation can be. I propose a bigger vision than competing for a dwindling supply – rehumanising, politicising and conscious-raising international education by asking new questions that extend beyond bottom-lines and towards synergistic possibilities.

The number of new international students in the United States declined by 3% in 2016-17 – dropping for the first time in the 12 years since the Open Doors survey of the Institute of International Education has reported new enrolments. But the overall number of international students rose by 3% to 1.08 million and Americans studying abroad increased by 4%.